The 50th anniversary of the Woodstock music festival, that symbolic but remote frolic in the mud that celebrated the day’s counterculture, has been celebrated with gusto in recent days, even if the 1969 audience is now probably more interested in free travel than free love.

On a visit to the US last month, it was impossible not to notice how the retail experience has changed over the last ten years — specifically, the decline of the shopping mall, writes John Daly.

The governor of Florida Jeb Bush said today that a prosecutor has agreed to investigate why Terri Schiavo collapsed 15 years ago, citing an alleged time gap between when her husband Michael found her and when he called for an ambulance.